Friday’s Rants from the Soap Box in my Living Room…

Welcome to my Friday’s Rants from the Soap Box in my Living Room. A small space in the week where I can have a chunter about things that have made me twitch with annoyance or made me question if the world has gone mad or not….
I also linked up with MummyBarrow for her Ranty Friday. You can find her blog and link up if you’d like to join in. A good rant can be therapeutic. Click on the link at the end to join in!

I have wanted to let off some steam about this topic for a few weeks. I apologise if you are reading this and you are not a parent, and you will read this and wonder what on earth I am on about, but actually, I would think that even if you weren’t a parent, you would agree with me on this.

My children watch CBeebies, as their tv viewing. I am a mean mother, and don’t let them watch any of the tv channels with adverts on them, and we don’t have an extended cable package, and neither have figured out things like Nickelodeon or Disney yet, I hope to keep it that way for a while.

But I digress, my rant, what is getting my goat (apologies to Mummy Barrow, I KNOW she hates that term, but I can’t think of another phrase now) is how creepy and horrible, or just plain weird some of the characters on the various CBeebies programmes are.

For example: My children LOVE Numberjacks, which is a numeracy based programme. The concept behind it is great, educating whilst being entertain, splendid, until, you come across the “meanies” who cause the problems needing to be solved….

This chap, The Numbertaker

This is a video of him.

He makes my skin crawl, he’s weird and dubious, and if he approached me in real life, I would probably run screaming. My kids don’t like episodes with him in. Why does the Beeb think that a weird, creepy, character like this is appropriate for a children’s programme? He apparently is attractive in the heeby jeebiness he brings out in people.

Then we have Baby Jake. Small Boy LOVES this programme and I must admit, baby Jake himself is a cute little thing, but seriously, what were the writers smoking in their broom cupboard, when they came up with it?

The theme tune for Baby Jake says it all, although it is catchy, and I do find myself, humming “Yakky, ooki oki, moo moo moo” as I go about the day, after we have watched it, much to the alarm of the people I work with and the general public. What are we trying to pour into the minds of our children? I thought the Tellitubbies and In the Night Garden were bad enough, but it seems the writers of tv for children seem to go further in their need to produce freaky, weird and odd tv characters.

The we have Grandpa in My Pocket, which is centred around a rather egocentric and eccentric grandpa, who everyone but his grandson thinks is old and doddery, (they keep telling him to go and lie down, I wish he actually would)who shrinks to mini size, to solve mysteries, and help people, in a very annoying fashion,  and the weird assortment of characters they come up with. This programme isn’t scary, but I can only handle it for a few minutes before I want to hurl things at the tv, my kids of course think it is wonderful.

My worst programme, and I am sure I will get howls of disapproval for this, is GiggleBiz.

I actually really like Justin Fletcher. I have met him in real life, and he was lovely and very friendly and is actually very gentle and kind to the children he works with, but seriously, is he taking over CBeebies? You have Mr Tumble, then all the Tumble Characters, then Tiny Tumble, then Justin’s House (which, ok, I think is hilarious, Robert the Robotic Butler makes me laugh so much and my children would give anything to be in the audience of a recording of ) and then GiggleBiz, a series of skits that Justin performs, dressing up very campily in many different character roles. It is funny, but it’s totally not children’s viewing, sort of like Benny Hill for children, but not as amusing.

I guess the TV programmes will always be the same, with weird and wacky stuff coming thought our screens. I of course am old enough to remember the Magic RoundAbout, and Captain Pugwash, so I probably shouldn’t complain, but it does drive me potty that the BBC is capable of producing such good quality stuff, and we pay for it, with our licence fee, yet they hurl a lot of junk at our children.

I know, I should be doing educational and interesting things with them, instead of letting them watch TV, I asked for it, didn’t I?

Do you have a much loathed, or feared TV character or programme? Do you wonder what the writers of TV for children smoke, or put in their tea? Feel free to comment, and of course, if you happen to adore the programmes I have mentioned, I hope you aren’t too offended! 😉

Don’t forget to link up to MummyBarrow’s Ranty Friday.

Have a good weekend!